Alfonso Pulido Islas was an economist and historian who served as a professor at the Universidad Autónoma de México (UNAM),
where he directed the Escuela Nacional de Economía (1942-1944). He was also Chief of the Departamento Autónomo de Prensa y
Publicidad and first president of the National Film Institute. An official of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI)
and a founding member of its precursor, the Partido Nacional Revolucionario (PRN), Pulido Islas was an important policy maker
in several Mexican administrations and held numerous government posts. A member of and/or chair of several economic commissions
and prolific writer on economic issues, he is generally considered one of the most influential economists of his generation.